April 15th

Dear Journal,

After spending some time with Amyn Shadowmoon in Stormwind, I decided that I needed to get away from the humanities for a while and head back to my nice quiet forests for a while.  It is almost like you need to heal your mind sometimes when you have been in contact with many people for few days – or that’s just me.

I went back to Darnassus and stayed there a few days to gather my gear and head out for some serious exploration to and to refresh myself with some of my fond memories of different places.  Of course, a lot of things are not as they were in the past after the Shattering, however, I did take comfort in the fact that I could see that Nature was revitalizing itself after those injuries were inflicted by an insane dragon.

Darkshore used to be one of my favorite places to visist as a child with my family, however, there is no more Darkshore as I once knew it.  All of the flooding and destruction has erased that from the face of the planet, however, I still can rely on some of my memories to help ease the pain.   I can remember standing there for countless hours learning how to fish with my Father, looking out over the water and having thoughts that someday I might want to live there.  Luckily for me, those dreams never came to pass, who knows if I would have survived Deathwing’s visit to the area.

I know that I have seen more Horde on this trip than I can recall seeing in the past, however, that was to be expected, I suppose.  My first real exposure to the Horde when I was younger and training with some of my fellow druids was the incursion into the lands was much further across the land in Forest Song.  The Horde were busy taking what they wanted or needed from the forest without much thought for the future, however, I am beginning to realize that it’s not just the forest that they are after – they want the Night Elves to be gone from the lands that we have called home since we came into existence.  Greed is the one motivation that I can see with the Horde, they couldn’t possibly need all of the resources that they are taking from us.

I did wander into the Northern Barrens and I can honestly say that I enjoyed my time there gathering a few herbs and noticing that not only were the Horde despoiling my own land, they were busy doing the same to their own as well.  So many encampments, so many soldiers that I was wondering if anyone was still living in Orgrimmar. I almost wept with sorrow when I saw the deep gash in the land left behind by Deathwing – no more are the rolling plains open for miles as they once were, nature has been left in such disarray that I wonder if it can be healed.

I think that my main goal with some of this wandering around was to refresh my memories of places that I have enjoyed many times in the past.  I was not disappointed when I made my way through Desolace and  went traversing through Feralas, yet again.

I was finally able to make my way to where we had all camped as a family many years ago and I am happy to say that there were still signs left there of our camp site.  Naturally, I decided to camp in the same area as we had before and I will admit that I was just enjoying myself completely lost in my old memories of the fun we had there as well as seeing signs of how much the land had changed and grown for the better.

I did make it into Feathermoon to get a few supplies to take back to my camp and I will admit that the Sentinel encampment has grown quite a bit.  I guess that is a good reason that I am not seeing much of the Horde where I am camping and haven’t really seen much of an incursion or signs of them having been there for a while.

Okay, I’ll admit that I was in Feathermoon in hopes of running into that young lady that I had mentioned previously.  I know that her company of Sentinels was sent to Pandaria, however, I do know that they rotate the groups back home as much as possible so that there is no danger of them going native in the new land.   I was just hoping that she might be there.

When I was in Darnassus I did go to Dolonaar to visit my Aunt and Uncle, however, they were busy with  Amyn’s boys most of the time.  We did have an opportunity to talk a bit and , naturally, my Aunt was curious about how things were going with the rest of the family and I let it slip that I was there to find out some information about one of their foster children.   A young woman that I had an interest in and had been too shy to really get to know her as well as I would have liked.  You can imagine my shock and surprise to find out that the girl had been shipped from Feathermoon to Pandaria and was now living with their grandson, the oldest of Amyn’s mixed breeds.

I guess my disappointment showed on my face quite readily and I was reassured that this boy hadn’t taken any vows at the Moonwell with Kae yet.  I know that I was just disappointed that I hadn’t the nerve when she was still in Dolonaar to let her know how I felt.  Of course, she was getting all set to become a Sentinel and probably wouldn’t have had time for druid like myself.  Her thoughts were all about the glory of being a Sentinel and my thoughts were all about how to heal the land where blood had been shed and Nature disturbed years ago, long before my time.

Yes, I have been daydreaming about this young woman for quite a while and I guess that I should start dismissing those thoughts from my mind, however, if this boy hasn’t committed himself yet to her, there might still be an opportunity for me if I can get myself to Pandaria.  Elune knows that there will come a time when I will be able to make that journey.   I am old enough now to know better, however, I will admit that my heart was set on this young lady a long time ago and I don’t think that I will give up the thoughts of settling down with her – be it here in Kalimdor or possibly in Pandaria.  Time will tell.

Basaric Shadowmoon